Police Reportedly Close to Arrest in Auburn Student's Death; UNC Murder Still Unsolved

Detectives in three states on Thursday were hunting for clues in the mysterious shooting murders — a day apart — of two college coeds from Georgia, and sources have told FOX News that an arrest may be imminent in one of the killings.

Police in Auburn, Ala., said Thursday afternoon they are pursuing promising leads as they try to identify who killed 18-year-old Auburn University freshman Lauren A. Burk of Marietta on Tuesday night near campus.

Local reporters told FOX News' Greta Van Susteren Thursday evening that authorities are said to be close to an arrest, though no suspects have been named.

WBRC's Dave Bondy told Van Susteren that Lee County Sheriff Jay Jones had said investigators are investigating the possibility Burk knew her attacker, but the sheriff wouldn't say whether police had confirmed that detail.

Meanwhile, officials at the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill said town police had identified the young woman found dead Wednesday near the campus as 22-year-old Eve Marie Carson, the popular president of UNC's student body.

Police Chief Brian Curran said her death appeared to be a random act, and police don't know what she was doing in the upscale residential area where her body was found. University Chancellor James Moeser said there was nothing to link Carson's slaying to anyone on campus.

Auburn police said Thursday that they hadn't turned up any evidence linking the two killings but were checking before ruling it out.

"I don't have anything at this point to indicate that this is related," Auburn Assistant Chief of Police Tom Dawson said at a news conference. "I've had my investigators contact authorities there (Chapel Hill), but there's nothing to connect the two cases."

Detectives had several strong leads in Burk's murder and have established a state and federal task force to aid the investigation, Dawson said.

Local media have reported that police are interviewing witnesses to the crime, as well as a few "persons of interest."

Burk was found with a single gunshot wound to the head around 9 p.m. Tuesday on Alabama Highway 147, three miles off campus. Police said her Honda Civic was discovered 20 minutes later engulfed in flames at the campus.

Burk was taken to the hospital, where she died Tuesday night.

Police haven't said whether Burk said anything before she died that could help them identify her killer.

Carson, of Athens, Ga., died from multiple bullet wounds, including one to the head. After responding to reports of gunfire, police discovered Carson lying dead in an intersection in a Chapel Hill residential neighborhood close to the university.

Town authorities and school officials identified her body on Thursday. Police had no suspects and hadn't made any arrests, but they were looking for her car.